


Going down (but not without the ship)

by LittleLinor



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Genre: Cannibalism, Emotional Manipulation, Gen, M/M, Tokyo Ghoul au/crossover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-29
Updated: 2015-06-29
Packaged: 2018-04-06 17:13:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4230108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleLinor/pseuds/LittleLinor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tokyo Ghoul crossover. Vector's just about had it with the hypocrisy of peace. </p>
<p>Foilshipping entry for ygo ship olympics.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Going down (but not without the ship)

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry for how messed up this fic is. I'm also sorry if it's a bit rushed, some plot and character threads would have been worth like three times the length (just like Zexal II itself), but I hope you can still enjoy watching the absolute trainwreck.
> 
> Warnings for character death (a lot of it), emotional manipulation, implied cannibalism, and graphic violence. Basically anything you could expect from combining Vector and Tokyo Ghoul.

When you walk into the cafe, you meet Nasch's eyes, and you know the presence of humans is the only reason the cake knife in his hands hasn't yet flown across the room to embed itself into your skull.  
You take a seat and wait for him to come to you. It takes two minutes, which you assume is the time he needs to push the murder urges. Looks like he's been working on that temper of his after all.  
"I told you to get out of town," he hisses, low enough not to be heard by other clients in the faint buzz of conversation.  
"Chill," you answer, all smiles and sweet, slick voice. "I'm not here for _you_. I came to see _Yuuma-kun_."  
His eyes narrow, his lips tensed to hide a snarl. But he can't make a scene, not here. Tied by his own respectability and the goodness of his heart. What a pity (what a joke).  
"I'll have a coffee," you tell him with your brightest smile.

(This is how it starts: with you flat on your back against the pavement and your head still ringing from the shock, your kagune sprawled around you after absorbing the violence with which you were thrown down, and the kid above you, wide-eyed and shaking, eyes glinting red in the darkness and wings (how are they so big, how are they _holding him up_ , they're not supposed to hold you up) blocking out the starlight with their dark, pulsing spread.  
You'd gone for what you thought was prey and found an angel of death instead. And Nasch was keeping such a jewel hidden in his backroom? The guy has better taste in pets than you'd thought, or he's too blind to see this one's potential.  
You put your hands up to face level, your kagune tightening towards you to hold you up, and put on your best scared undertones, your shaky, dumb, _weak_ smile that reeks of someone trying to keep smiling through pain and despair, and you call out to him--sorry, sorry, you were just _so hungry_ , you didn't know--you're so sorry--and you look up at him properly then, take in the span of his kagune with open wonder, and gasp, your face relaxing in awe.  
"That is _so cool_.")

Bonding with Yuuma is surprisingly easy, as long as you can make yourself not laugh at him--or manage to repurpose it into laughing with him, which turns out to be a big key in working him. The kid laughs at everything--or tries, anyway, like if he smiles enough at enough people the world will be fixed and everyone will somehow get along.   
It doesn't take much to establish yourself as the old friend with Problems who had a disagreement with Nasch a few years ago and left rather than cause open conflict (Yuuma laughs, apologises, "Yeah, he's a bit paranoid and rough around the edges," a fond smile that makes your gut heavy and hot, a twirl of his spoon in the cup of coffee, "but I can't really blame him, that's how he keeps everyone safe. I know it's not easy," and you laugh and give him a side smile: "I know, I'm just too much of a loner to work well in a team."), and you're cautious enough to let him talk about his own life before really mentioning any dates or details. The closer you can stay to the truth, the better. But it's not too hard. His family lived in a neighbouring district, but moved after his father had a fight with his best friend (something about experiments to increase ghoul numbers and strength, and Yuuma doesn't know the details, but you think you have a very good idea what those experiments led to), and he, his wife and Nasch had become friends. They'd helped with this place, apparently. No wonder Nasch's so protective of him.  
But his parents aren't around _now_ , and you lead the subject there, watch him falter and start to explain, and cut him off gently, your face the perfect picture of compassion as you "realise" your painful "mistake." You let the corner of your mouth rise just a little, your eyebrows still raised in pain and sympathy.  
"It's okay, Yuuma-kun. I understand."   
He stops, takes a breath, and rubs the back of his head, laughing nervously and sheepishly, like he's embarassed of having let it get to him. You look down. Back up.  
"I lost my parents too."

You don't come every day. Nasch would be even more suspicious than he already is, and besides, you don't want him to take you for granted. Your presence had better be a damn privilege.  
It both works and doesn't. He's excited to see you, definitely, but he's excited to see everyone else. Merag, who treats him like a badly trained pup (well, she's not wrong) but is still fond of him underneath. His own sister, a thin, overworked ghoul with long red hair, as much energy as Yuuma and as much temper as Nasch (you make a note to avoid her. It's not too hard: Yuuma feels slightly guilty about being a weight on her, so giving him a chance to do things on his own and relieve her load makes his eyes shine and his debts rise). Durbe, whom you'd almost thought to be dead until he finally shows his face after a couple of weeks, visibly starved and exhausted but still smiling the moment Nasch comes into view (Yuuma stands and helps him sit down before people can get too suspicious, and you pay and sign him that you'll be back later, slipping out before Durbe can notice you). A human teenage girl, to your surprise. Short but sharp, observant eyes hidden under a soft exterior; you let Yuuma introduce you as a friend, and all it takes is your eyes meeting for you to Know she Knows. More than a friend, probably, then. There's got to be a reason she's keeping Yuuma's secret.

You're sitting with him one day (you're pretty sure the only reason Nasch tolerates it is because he thinks it's safer to keep you where he can see you rather than risk him running off with you somewhere else) when the bell above the door chimes and Yuuma's eyes widen, brighten, his face instantly blooming into a smile that makes all those he's given you until now look like lifeless renaissance paintings.  
You hate that smile.  
"Astral!"  
He stammers a quick apology and stands, all but hopping towards the door, and you take a second to compose yourself before turning towards them, an air of casual curiosity on your face.  
For the first time since you met him, you almost break character.  
 _It's 96_.  
You almost let out your kagune right there before your brain catches up and notices the details that don't add up--the lack of a bloodbath, for starters. N° 96 hates humans and ghouls alike, goes from friend to enemy with even less predictability than you do, and doesn't buy into the whole masquerade thing. He would never walk into a cafe peacefully, much less wearing the kind of tightass expression this one does--expression that significantly warms up when he looks down at Yuuma, you notice with a slight scowl. And then there's his hair, a lighter shade, and technically he _could_ have dyed it, but it doesn't seem like him.  
You take a deep breath and compose yourself again, waiting for the boy's eyes to come up to look at you as Yuuma gestures in the direction of your table.  
You smile when they do.

In the following days, you learn more about Astral than you care to know. The thing is, it's information you want, not details about how smart and nice he is (nice? Yuuma's really got shitty taste, the guy's emotionally constipated), but you keep asking anyway, because in the flow of the conversation, you learn a lot of things.  
Astral is, indeed, human, has been friends with Yuuma since childhood, moved into this area a couple of years ago, a few months after his parents' death. He used to have a brother ( _finally_ ), but he disappeared when they were younger, and with the age difference Yuuma was too young to remember him much.  
"He got a lot more protective of me and Kotori after that, though," Yuuma says with a sad smile.  
Here's what he doesn't tell you, but that you notice anyway: that Astral's stance isn't just tense out of awkwardness. The guy's a fighter, always on high alert, and there's something in the way his eyes move when he enters a room that tells you it's not just fighting he anticipates.  
There aren't that many things a human with those reflexes in that kind of environment can be, especially one who, you're 99% sure now, has 96 as a brother. There's no way Astral doesn't know what's going on.  
The question is whether Yuuma does.

"You do know that Astral guy is getting chummy with investigators, right?" you ask Nasch one night after he's managed to get everyone out of the shop but you.  
The look he gives you could probably make every plant in the area whither, if they weren't already struggling from the summer heat.  
"I didn't know you'd added stalking to your list of _hobbies_ ," he grits out.   
You smile.  
"You'd be surprised how many hobbies I have. So why are you letting a known CCG snitch hang around your precious protégé? Hell, why _are_ you keeping Yuuma? I thought you already had a pet."  
He glares, but finally sighs and answers.  
"I promised his mother. And leave Astral alone. He's keeping them off our backs."  
"... you're kidding, right?"  
"I'm not. And I won't hesitate to let him turn _you_ in if you cause any trouble."  
You smirk.  
"Turning your own people in? That's low of you, Nasch. I thought we were all in this together."  
"My "people," like you put it, are the people who come here and try to make it work. You put them in danger and I won't hesitate to kill you. Or anyone else. Ghoul or human."  
"Soooo scary." You smile and move closer, sit on one of the tables just to see his eyelid twitch. "So why's Astral helping you? What's in it for him?"  
He sighs, and you wonder whether he'll try and avoid mentioning his brother, look forward to watching him squirm, but instead he just shakes his head, like you're more of an inconvenience than a threat.  
"Like you don't know why."  
The looks, the alertness, the strange gentleness finally add up.  
"... that's _so cute_." And hilarious and kind of pathetic, but cute.  
"Don't tell Yuuma," Nasch warns.  
"You mean he doesn't even _know_? This is getting better and better."  
"Vector--"  
"Yeah, yeah, I know, if I'm not a nice little ghoul who keeps secrets, Daddy Nasch will come give me a spanking. Don't worry, I have better things to do than turn the guy in. It's just too funny not to watch."

(Here's what Nasch doesn't know, because he has his hands full where he is, and you know how to travel fast: the next time you disappear for a couple of days, you vent your frustrations on a helpless human and an ageing ghoul, enjoying the hunt and screams at least as much as the meat. You do it far enough that no one, not even the ccg, would make a link with the person you are now, and come back fed, leaving in your wake the shredded remains of bodies and rumours of a mad, cannibalistic ghoul.  
Maybe 96 will hear about it and come to assert his superiority; he does have a reputation to uphold)

It's been a month and you still haven't seen Yuuma eat.   
He could be doing it while you're not around, of course. He's definitely not going to do it in public, but you hang out in his room in the back sometimes now, and more importantly, you're good at seeing the subtle chances to a ghoul's eyes and body language after they've had a good meal.  
Yuuma is definitely not having good meals. Even after the fight in which you'd originally met him, he hasn't let himself go. You're positive he hasn't hunted even once.  
If Nasch is indeed feeding him, then he's rationing him hard.  
You last another week before asking him.  
"Ah--well--I did eat a couple of weeks ago..." He looks down, apparently counting mentally. "... almost four weeks ago. It wasn't a lot, but it was enough."  
"I thought Nasch was taking care of you," you snort. "I should tell him to do his job better."  
"No! Don't!" You stare at his outburst, and he looks away, sheepish. "It's my own fault. He tried, but I told him I wasn't hungry."  
What an idiot.  
"Why not?" You shake your head, turning exasperation to worry. "It's _dangerous_ , Yuuma."  
"There's been more investigators around, recently..." _Oops_. "Akari's been having more trouble than usual. Fewer bodies to find, more risks to get to them... I don't want her to be in danger because of me. Her or anyone else. So... I don't want to strain the stock. There are people who need it more than me."  
How disgustingly noble.  
"... you ever wonder what it's like?" he asks while you're still too busy looking at him.  
"What's what like?"  
"Human food."  
"Well, it's gross?"  
He laughs.  
"Yeah but--that's not what I mean. I mean--if we could taste it? I keep wondering--it always looks so good. Until you bite in, anyway," he adds with a wince and a wink, sticking his tongue out a little.  
"... I never really thought about it," you admit, taking on the face of someone who really hasn't thought about it.  
"Maybe it's cause I have human friends," he apologises. "Kotori's mom makes those super pretty cakes... I always wanted to try them."  
"They didn't get suspicious that you didn't?"  
"We said I was lactose intolerant. And Astral has food allergies too, so. It didn't seem that weird."  
The obliviousness is painful.

You show up at Nasch's place about a month later to find the entire place seeped in a bad atmosphere.  
To your surprise, Yuuma, when you finally spot him, is no exception.  
"Chin up!" you tell him, tilting his chin with a reassuring smile as you half-sit on the table he was studying on. "Why's everyone looking so grim?"  
He winces a bit, but tries to smile at you all the same.  
"Let's go up to my room, okay?"

"So what's the big deal?" you ask, flopping down on the sofa and pulling your legs up on it.  
"They're doubling the guard on our district. I saw it on the news."  
"Huh." You pull your legs closer so he can sit too, grabbing the cardboard cup he hands you and taking a sip. "Did someone go on a rampage?"  
"No idea. They didn't say anything, and Durbe and Merag didn't hear anything either--they just suddenly announced they were upping security. Akari's trying to hack them to find out."  
He sounds worried. His hand comes to fiddle with the pendant he always wears--a memento from his father, apparently. He's restless, covered in nervous little tics of impatience. Frustrated at staying cooped up inside while everyone he knows is in danger.  
There's an extra strain on him, a certain tightness to his face, and you realise that if Akari is focused on intel, he's got to be eating even less than usual.  
You reach forward and squeeze his shoulder.  
"It'll be fine." He looks up and you smile at him. "Look, I'm not on the best terms with Nasch, but he's still the closest I've got to a friend. Aside from you, of course." He blushes a bit, laughs it off as his eyes flit to the side. "I'll keep an eye out. I wouldn't want you guys to get in trouble. You can count on me, okay?" He nods. "Now give me a smile."  
He does, and takes your hand when you offer it.

It takes less than three days for Astral to corner you.  
He does it out of Yuuma's sight, of course, catches you a couple of blocks out of the cafe after you've left it, and you know from his stance that you can't play around too much.  
So you give him a very insincere smile (if he's been talking to Nasch there's no point in trying to fool him anyway) and follow him.  
"Are you responsible for this?" he asks, throwing a few pages on your lap. The results of Akari's hacking, probably.  
You pull the papers up and read. A series of killings, in the next district over, roughly coinciding with your latest feeding trip. Victims barely touched, most of their meat still on, but their chest and stomach broken, crushed as if something had wrapped itself around their stomach and squeezed until they popped.  
You almost swear under your breath, before realising that this, despite being a pain in the ass, is probably your best opportunity.  
As long as you remember to get the fuck out of the area afterwards.  
"I'm not. I kill to eat," you add with an eyeroll when he squints. And then you face him and smile. "I know that signature, though."  
He frowns, but waits for you to go on. You take a second to savour the moment before you strike.  
"Yuuma told me a lot of things, you know. He can't shut up about you. Poor Astral, whose little brother got kidnapped." His face hardens, eyes going from distrustful to outright hostile. You smile and keep going. "Tell me, Astral. Was he kidnapped? Or was he _recaptured_?"  
"What are you implying? If you wanted to blackmail me, why wait now?"  
"Do you know what happens when 96 shows up somewhere?" He shakes his head. "So they kept you in the dark, huh? Typical. Well! Faker's son is in charge of 96's case. A personal request, apparently. He's very, ah, _determined_ to destroy what's left of his father's legacy." You pause to let his digest the implications. "Wanna know why I came back here? Kaito's a disaster. You'd think being this obsessed gives him a one track mind? It doesn't. He'll take down any ghoul he so much as gets a whiff of. Whittle them down and you'll find the right one!" You snort. "96 and Kaito together make a living hell. And where 96 goes, Kaito's sure to follow. And his partner is one of the best at forensics; leave any trace and they'll track you down." And you don't have to fake the worry and seriousness on your face and in your voice, because maybe you're more worried for your own ass than anything, but those two scare the shit out of you. You've _seen_ 96 at work, and you've seen what's left after a Kaito-Arclight intervention. It's not pretty. "What do you think it'll mean for Nasch if they sic Kaito on us? For Yuuma?"  
Astral stares at you silently. If he wasn't so painfully repressed, you're pretty sure he'd be snarling at you.  
But there's fear in his eyes, under the cold angry face.  
"Why are you telling me this?" he finally asks.  
"Because I want those two here as little as you do." He startles, and you smirk. "What? Did you think I'd believe you're actually looking for your brother? You wouldn't have hanged around this place for so long if you did. But here you are." You straighten. "So, I'm asking again. What are you gonna do if he shows up?"  
"... I'll get to him before Kaito does. We can't afford to have the full attention of the ccg."  
"That's what I thought." You pull out your phone, open your contacts. "Give me your number. I'll tell you if anything comes up on my end. And I'd appreciate it if you did the same." He frowns and you snort. "What? You think Nasch shares his intel with me? I'm just protecting my ass a little."  
He stares at you suspiciously, then finally sighs and pulls up his own phone.  
"Don't tell Yuuma about any of this," he warns.  
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Can't let the neighborhood pet know what's happening around him." He glares. "What? That's how you guys treat him. Especially Nasch."  
"It's none of your business."  
"No," you murmur. "I guess it isn't."

You get to work. You might not have the kind of network Nasch has, but you do have contacts (most of them reluctant, and more likely to give you info so you'll get out of their sight and stop making them uncomfortable than anything else, but hey, whatever works, you like the no strings attached style best anyway), and 96 isn't exactly _discreet_. It's easy to spot the areas he's been in by the way everyone scuttles around, humans and ghouls alike.  
Ghouls most of all, actually. So Kaito's already there.  
It's all you need to know.  
War is on your doorstep, and you didn't even have to bring it there. It came all on its own, the reality of people's hate and pettiness and shitty priorities, and Nasch's little fantasy of cohabitation is about to come crashing down.  
And a good portion of the ccg with it. Nasch might use them as babysitters and spies, but his group hides some of the strongest ghouls you've ever met.  
Starting with Yuuma.

Three birds with one stone. You get your revenge on Nasch, who had the fucking gall to judge you for being _yourself_ , for not being ashamed of being a ghoul and good at killing. You cripple the ccg for months, if not years, get rid of their best investigators by letting them pit themselves not just against 96 but against Nasch and Merag.  
And you get Yuuma. Not the meek little declawed pet they're trying to turn him into, but the killing machine he was clearly meant to be. All he needs is a little push.

You just have to pull the trigger.

(Here is what _you_ don't know, because despite your paranoia, arrogance has always been a fault of yours: the other Arclight brothers are already on your trail. 96 isn't the only chaotic killer they're focusing on)

You start killing again. And this time, you leave a signature.  
It's not the same modus operandi you used to have; you don't want to become public enemy n°2 again, after all. Even your mask is changed, the showy, jewelled mane and domino mask replaced by a blank, mouthless face. You miss the way it used to move around you when you hunted, but it doesn't really matter. You have more important things in mind.  
Unlike a _certain someone_ , you actually eat. You leave enough that the victims are recognisable and easily found, of course, but why hold yourself back when you'll need all the strength you can have in the days to come?  
It doesn't take long for them to send a team after you. Within a few days, you notice them roaming around near the sites of your kills, a tall man and a sharp woman, too conspicuous to really be a threat.  
They don't look half bad at fighting, though. You'll have to be careful.  
After frustrating them for a couple of nights by escaping right under their noses, you decide to fight them.

It lasts longer than it really should. You could have killed them within a mere minute or two, but you don't want them to know your real abilities, and they're too good to be fooled _that_ easily. So you let it drag on, give in little by little, until one finally lands a blow on you and your mask falls off.  
You roar and spread your kagune in your best imitation of desperate strength, and send them flying, picking up your mask before disappearing out of sight and leaving the area.  
Once you're sure you've lost them, you make straight for Nasch's place.

Yuuma's eyes go wide when you stumble into his room from his window, and within seconds he's on you and trying to check your wound.  
" _Vector!_ "  
"I'm--hn--fine." You grin with one half of your face. "It'll take more than that to kill me."  
"What happened?"  
"Ran into--investigators. Things have been messy--they're everywhere these days."  
"Hold on, I'll get Nasch--"  
"No!" He freezes. "I don't--we're supposed to stay hidden. He's gonna be pissed." You sigh. "But I needed to eat--didn't want to take from you guys."  
His mouth opens. Closes.  
"Oh."  
You wave your hand dismissively.  
"I'll be fine. Just need to rest a bit. It's not that bad--I've seen worse."  
"But--"  
"Just stay with me, okay?" You give him a warm smile. "It's easier with company."  
He nods.

You spend the first half of the day sleeping, and the second half resting and pretending to.  
Yuuma doesn't leave your side for what's left of the night, and finally slips out to avoid looking suspicious when his normal waking hours come.  
The afternoon hours pass like sludge, the remaining heat and tension of the risk you're taking weighting your body down. The rest does you good, though. Between that and all your recent meals, you know you'll be in top form when the time comes to fight.  
Can't say the same of Yuuma, though. But that's what you wanted.  
He comes back late in the afternoon, looking grim.  
"What's wrong?"  
"A woman with a briefcase was hanging around earlier. It's none of the investigators we know. One of the new investigators probably." He's biting his lip again, worry and restlessness eating at him at least as much as the lack of food. Useless and helpless.  
You wince and look away.  
"... I'll draw her away," you finally say, when you've let him worry long enough.  
"What? --no!"  
"It might be my fault. If they managed to track me down--I put you in danger."  
"And what's running right into it gonna do now? Just tell Nasch, we'll figure it out!"  
"What, you think I'm planning on letting her _catch_ me? I'm better than that, Yuuma. I just got careless earlier, I won't do it again." You smile at him reassuringly. "Don't worry. It'll all be for the best."  
He bites his lip again, and seems about to argue when Akari's voice rings from downstairs.  
"Yuuma?"  
He winces, and points at you with a determined pout.  
"I'll be back. _You_ don't move until I'm back, okay?"  
You raise your hands to the sides of your face as if claiming innocence. He nods, huffs, and runs out of the door, calling "Coming!" back at his sister.  
You wait all of thirty seconds before jumping back out of the window.

(Here is the message Astral gets on his phone about ten minutes later: **I ran into trouble. Keep Yuuma safe.**  
Whether he trusts you or not is irrelevant. You know he will do it. Not for your sake, but for his)

She's the one who finds you first, blocking your way as you slide around a corner not far from your usual hideout.  
"You're not getting away this time."  
You jump away, fishing for your mask as you rush down the dark street and towards the nearest alley, where you know the building is scaleable. She's right behind you, faster than any human has a right to be, but thankfully not as fast as you.  
Yuuma is still faster than both of you. Before you can turn and fight, you hear a shout from the investigator, and look over your shoulder to see Yuuma wrapped around her waist, blocking her arms to stop her from taking out her weapon.  
"Vector!" he screams. "Run!"  
The idiot. At least he thought to put on his mask, the knight's helm looking almost ridiculous on his small shoulders.  
Well, all you have to do is kill any humans who heard him. Which reminds you--  
Yuuma screams again as her partner's quinique catches him right in the shoulder and sends him flying, letting go of her waist and crashing into the wall.  
His kagune comes out to cushion his fall, the dark red wings bursting out of his back.  
"Yuuma!"  
You block the woman's attack (fuck, she's quick. Learned her lesson from yesterday, apparently) with your tentacles, and Yuuma tries to right himself, his eyes bright red and his breath hurried.  
The man's reinforced fist slams into his stomach again, and as you trip the woman and jump for the wall to scale it, you hear Yuuma's voice rising again, a scream of pain and rage that barely has anything human anymore.  
 _Perfect_.  
You're halfway up the wall. Behind you, you hear the man's voice as he gets blasted away, the woman's calling his name. You're already out of reach. All you have to do is reach the top, watch safely as his real power comes out, finally coaxed by hunger and violence.  
Yuuma's still screaming.  
You reach the top of the building.  
Something tears into your arm.

You turn, clutching at your bleeding arm and almost jumping back before remembering that there's a three storey fall behind you.  
It's the Arclight brat. The middle one, with his whip-like quinique and his arrogant face.  
 _Fuck._  
If he's here, then--  
You look around frantically--and there's the younger one, on the opposite building, cutting off your only real path of escape.   
_Fuck fuck fuck what are **they** doing here?_  
"Sorry to crash your party," the whip asshole baits, and you whip back towards him, snarling. "We thought it'd be sad to leave you to play alone."  
You stay silent. He's stalling so his brother can block you off, you know. Answering his banter will only be playing into their hands.  
If you jump and use your kagune to crash into one of the windows--  
From the street underneath, you hear Astral's voice crying out Yuuma's name.  
 _Too early!_  
Out of options, you charge forward, knocking middle-brat down and rushing towards the corner of the building, away from his brother and to the only place you can still jump from.  
You risk a quick look down. The man is down, his partner struggling in Yuuma's hold--and Astral calling out, trying to get Yuuma to look at him. You look back ahead, gather your strength, and jump.  
You roll yourself into a ball, kagune and all, and brace for the impact of the lower roof. It knocks the air out of you, but you keep going, rolling off it and not uncurling until you've hit the ground, bruised but alive and unbroken.  
You're bleeding, though. And that means they'll be on your trail in no time if they prioritise you over Yuuma. And if they do know it's you, you know they will.  
You grit your teeth and run.  
Somewhere in the distance, you hear Astral scream.

(Here is what you don't get to see, running away as you are from the investigators you need to lure before you can kill: Yuuma kneeling and screaming Astral's name, fear and pain finally breaking through the haze of hunger and battle lust on his mind. His red eyes shine, almost uniform in their bloody colour, and they stay fixed on Astral's face, on Astral's eyes, fighting the urge to look down at Astral's mangled chest and half-missing stomach, the wounds that he futilely tried to patch and almost instantly understood he was powerless against. They fill with tears but refuse to blink, as if holding his gaze will keep Astral there with him, keep him alive against all odds.  
Astral's blood is all around him, on him, spreading through Astral's clothes and blossoming on the ground, but all its smell does it feed the panic in Yuuma's gut.  
He screams again.  
" _Astral!!!_ "  
Astral's hand comes up, silently, constant shudders running from its fingers and all the way through Astral's body.  
"Yuuma..."  
Yuuma blinks in shock, then catches Astral's hand, presses it to his cheek. Astral smiles, then cries out in pain, his breath heaving noisily as he releases it.  
"Yuuma--I'm sorry... for lying to you."  
Yuuma laughs, nerves and disbelief and denial as the red puddle spreads.  
"No--no, it's okay--you can tell me everything later. I'm not leaving you."  
"Yuuma." He gasps, coughs, and the movement presses more blood out of his side. "Yuuma, _listen to me_." A deep, anchoring breath as Yuuma quiets down. "You were... betrayed... someone tipped them off. I don't know if more of them have--your name, but--" he bites his lip, heaves a little, and makes himself ignore Yuuma's repeated call of his name. "You can't... trust anyone. Warn Nasch if you want, but don't trust anyone. Not even him. Keep yourself safe. I... I won't be there... to do it anymore..."  
Yuuma stares, silently, saying with the grip and rub of his fingers what his breaking voice can't be trusted with.  
"... Yuuma," Astral asks again, and his voice is growing more quiet, less focused, and only concentration keeps it going. "Would you..."  
"Yeah?"  
"... they won't... be happy... to find out I betrayed them from the start... And if they don't find out..." He laughs slightly, desperately. "I don't want... to be buried with them."  
Yuuma stares, silent, breath rushing in and out of his lungs and breaking out of control because _this is all his fault_ , Astral can't be dying, not because of him, not _at his hands_ , but there he is covered in his blood and his brain refuses to make sense of his words, he can't, he _can't_ \--  
Astral's thumb rubs his cheek, and Yuuma's fingers tighten over his hand, gripping it almost painfully.  
"Yuuma..."  
Yuuma sobs, but nods slightly, forcing himself to listen.  
"I don't want... my body to--go to waste." A slight smile brushes his lips, tense with pain but fond. "I know... you've been starving yourself. Let me... protect you... one last time."  
Yuuma's crying openly now, panicked little sobs mixing with the hurried, whispered "I'm sorry"s, but Astral calls out his name again, the gentleness in his voice overpowered by its weakness and the trembling in it.  
"It's a gift, Yuuma. This way, you don't--have to worry... about hurting anyone. It's my gift... to you. So please... don't blame yourself."  
Yuuma bends closer and presses his forehead to his as Astral keeps going, putting all his strength into communicating his warmth, trying with all his being and the time he has left to salvage even a shard of what he'd fought so hard to protect.  
"I will be with you this way," he breathes out. "I can stay at your side. And that makes me happy, Yuuma. I... promise. Okay?"  
Yuuma nods.

You're over a kilometre away and fighting when Astral dies. You don't see any of what comes next.)

The younger Arclight falls to his knees, his quinique already gripped into one of the tentacles of your kagune along with his brother's. He's still trying to shield him, the cute idiot, even though it's obvious from the angle of his spine that there's nothing left to save.  
Somehow it makes you angry. You want to laugh at them, at their stupidity, but you've had enough of this bullshit, of the stubbornness with which all those idiots try to protect and die for each other. You're sick of it. Nasch growing old before his age, stretching himself thin over a bunch of weaklings who won't fight for themselves; Faker's brat burning everything his father touched like it'll somehow undo the damage it did to his brother; Astral basically sleeping with the enemy so Yuuma can keep pretending to be human and then throwing himself in the way of their weapons anyway; these two idiots with their overtaxed bodies wielding weapons too powerful for them and then glaring at you like it's _your_ fault they self-destructed; the fierce, burning despair in Yuuma's voice as he screams Astral's name, his kagune still spread over the street like a night sky of its own, even its true power not enough to stop him from weakening himself. You hate it, hate them, and you'd scream yourself if the world wasn't already coming down around you.  
Good fucking riddance.  
"What a bunch of hypocrites," you laugh, walking closer and holding their weapons above your head. "You fight, you lose. No fucking fault but yours. If you didn't want him to die, you shouldn't have become soldiers."  
The rest of your broken mask falls to the ground, but what do you care? He's about to die, and you'll be out of there. It's worth it for the angry light of recognition in his eyes.  
"What? You already knew, didn't you. That's why you showed up to ruin my plans, right?" You spit on the ground. "Annoying brats. I put a lot of effort into this kid. If he's dead, I'm gonna hunt down everyone you have left just to make it even."  
The kid growls, curling in on himself.  
"What do you even want? You already killed Thomas."  
"You have one left, don't you? Mind you, I don't care for running into Kaito, but!" You grin. " _Just for you_ I might make an exception. Special favour for being a _special_ annoyance. I hope you're flattered."  
He's trembling by now, looking down and panting, and you have half a mind to reach for his chin and tilt his face up. So you'll at least see the life go out of his eyes; his brother went down too fast.  
"Are you scared?" you murmur, almost tender.  
He shudders, and it takes you just a little too long to realise it's with laughter.  
"We've been past that for a long time."  
He looks up, and you only have time to see the gun he pulls from the dead angle between his stomach and arms before pain explodes in your side, splattering blood and flesh across his face and the pavement.  
You choke, losing your footing, and feel your kagune weakening, but one look at the brat's smug face is enough to light the fire back in you, give you the rage and strength to bring the quinique down and tear his stupid self-satisfied face from his neck.  
The rest of his body falls, and you collapse with it, kagune retreating into your half-torn body before you can move to hide yourself.

 

You wake up, against all odds.  
The sun is up, its light hitting the off-white walls of the nearby houses and falling back on your tight, tucked-away corner, a grey glow that reflects off the dusk in the air.  
There's blood on your lips that wasn't there before, and you wince when you lick at it and recognise the taste.  
Not human.  
The dust to your right shifts, and you move your head slightly to catch sight of Yuuma, sitting in the corner between the two walls and hugging his knees.  
"... you're alive," you croak.  
In better shape than you are, even. Somehow he made it out of the night's madness intact, and the strain on his face is gone, replaced by something soft and empty.  
"... so are you."  
"Yeah." You cough, and finally realise where the blood on your mouth comes from. "... thanks."   
He shakes his head, almost imperceptibly, and looks away.  
The silence spreads like the too-white light, sounds of nature and far-off city life that sound as alien and artificial as underground neons.  
Yuuma doesn't move.  
"... did you carry me here?"  
"Yeah."  
"How did you find me?"  
"I was--" he hesitates, finally a trace of emotion on his face, something sad that makes him curl up further, like he doesn't want to share it. "I was coming back. Smelled blood." He laughs, just a burst or two, and it sounds more like sobs than anything else. "At least you're still alive... I wasn't sure anyone would be..."  
"And the investigators after you?"  
He chuckles again and shakes his head.  
"Dead."  
You nod. No witnesses left, then.   
Could be worse.  
He's still not looking at you.  
"... what're you gonna do now?" he asks, startling you.  
"Huh?" You sit up. "... not hang around here, that's for sure. It's gonna be hell soon. Better chill somewhere more quiet."  
"Can I come with you?"  
He's looking at you, finally, eyes both empty and determined.  
You smile.  
"Of course."  
He takes your hand.


End file.
